Apple iMac M4 Pink 2024

The iMac M4 has a drop-dead gorgeous 4.5K display, stellar build quality, and the M4 chip sails through everyday tasks. But the 512GB storage is cramped, the integrated GPU is a gaming dead-end, and you can’t upgrade anything later. It starts at $1,717, so it’s a premium pick for design lovers and Mac devotees. Recommended for productivity and casual creative work, not for gamers or heavy content creators.

The iMac M4 is the kind of desktop that makes you want to clear off your desk just so it has a proper spotlight. It's impossibly thin at just 11.5mm, comes in seven colors that pop without being obnoxious, and that 24-inch 4.5K Retina display is so crisp you'll catch yourself just staring at your wallpaper. Apple has kept the iconic chin, and honestly, it still looks great. This is a machine for people who care about how their workspace feels, not just how fast their spreadsheet calculates. It's the all-in-one for home offices, business lobbies, and anyone who's already invested in the Apple ecosystem.

Under the hood, the new M4 chip with a 10-core CPU and 10-core integrated GPU promises Apple Intelligence on-device, trick iPad-influenced photo editing, and the kind of buttery smooth multitasking that macOS Sequoia is known for. But our database tells a more nuanced story. While reliability and social proof are basically off the charts, sitting in the 99th percentile, its raw GPU grunt lands at a disappointing 11th percentile compared to other desktop-class machines. That’s not a typo. The iMac is built for elegance and everyday speed, not for rendering 8K video or chasing frame rates in Cyberpunk.

With 24GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, the configuration we tested lands right in the middle of the pack for memory and near the bottom for storage capacity. For students, families, and productivity-focused pros, it’s a joy. But if you’re the type who keeps a Steam library and three video editing projects on internal storage, we need to have a different conversation. At $1,717 to $1,899 depending on where you buy, you’re paying a big premium for that aluminum unibody and the Apple logo. The question isn’t whether it’s a good computer; it’s whether it’s the right good computer for you.

The M4’s 10-core CPU lands at the 55th percentile, which is a textbook definition of “middle of the pack.” For Office, Zoom, and a zillion Safari tabs, it’s more than enough. macOS flies on Apple silicon, and the entire experience feels responsive. Our test suite shows the iMac handles photo editing in Adobe Photoshop and even light 4K video trims without breaking a sweat, thanks to those efficiency cores. But when you push it into sustained multi-core workloads, that thin chassis and fanless-adjacent cooling mean it throttles a bit sooner than a chunky desktop would. It’s no Xeon workstation, but it’s not trying to be.

The real bottleneck is the integrated GPU. Scoring a 25.9 out of 100 in our gaming category and sitting in just the 11th percentile, this is not a machine for modern AAA titles. You can run Apple Arcade games and some older titles at reduced settings, but anything demanding will chug. The 512GB SSD is plenty fast, typical Apple NVMe speeds, but 29th percentile for capacity in a desktop is stingy. Stuff a few family photo libraries and a Parallels virtual machine on there and you’ll be eyeing external drives within a month. On the plus side, the 24GB of RAM is generous for typical workloads and helps with multitasking, even if you can’t ever upgrade it later.

Pricing for this iMac M4 configuration bounces between $1,717 and $1,899 across retailers, a spread of $182. That’s not pocket change, so it pays to shop around. For a machine that’s essentially a stunning 4.5K monitor with a capable computer baked in, the price isn’t unreasonable when you consider a comparable standalone display and Mac mini would cost about the same. But you’re definitely paying for the design and the convenience of one cable. From a raw specs-per-dollar angle, you can get a Windows tower and a 27-inch 4K monitor for less, and with a dedicated GPU. But those setups lack the iMac’s polish, reliability, and that intangible “it just works” vibe. If your priorities are a clutter-free desk, macOS, and a display that’ll make your photos pop, the iMac justifies its premium. Just know that the base storage might force you to budget for an external SSD sooner than you’d like.

Stacked against the gaming towers like the HP OMEN 45L GT22-3080 or the ASUS Republic of Gamers GM700TZ-BS978, the iMac M4 looks like it’s from a different planet. Those machines pack dedicated NVIDIA RTX GPUs that obliterate the iMac’s integrated graphics, and they come with roomier storage options and full upgradability. But they’re big, loud, and need you to buy a monitor, keyboard, and mouse separately. The iMac is the complete package in a single elegant box. For someone who never plans to game, the HP and ASUS rigs are overkill and more hassle.

Lenovo’s Legion Tower 5i and the Dell XPS EBT2250 sit in a similar position: capable Windows desktops that can be configured with better specs for the same money, but without the all-in-one simplicity. The MSI EdgeXpert also lands in that camp. If you’re considering the iMac, you’re likely not cross-shopping gaming towers. The real rival is Apple’s own Mac mini M4 paired with a high-quality external display. That combo can net you more storage flexibility and the same M4 performance for a similar price, but you lose the integrated webcam, speakers, and the clean single-cable aesthetic. The iMac remains the best choice for anyone who wants a Mac desktop that disappears into the background until you need it, and then delights you every time you sit down.

Skip this iMac if you regularly edit high-resolution video, play modern games, or need a local media vault. The 512GB storage and weak integrated GPU will have you pulling your hair out within a week. Creative pros who live in After Effects or DaVinci Resolve should look at the Mac Studio or a Windows tower with a dedicated RTX card. Gamers will be infinitely happier with something like the HP OMEN 45L or ASUS ROG desktop, which offer upgradeable storage and real GPU horsepower for the same price. If you’re on a budget but still want macOS, a Mac mini M4 with a user-supplied 4K monitor and a roomy external SSD gives you more flexibility and the same core performance for less money.

The iMac M4 is the perfect desktop for the design-conscious home office warrior, the creative who dabbles in photo editing but doesn’t need a workstation, or the family wanting a communal machine that doesn’t look like a black box of cables. The display is breathtaking, the all-day performance for everyday tasks is buttery, and the Apple ecosystem hooks make life genuinely easier. It’s a joy to use, and that’s not something you can spec out on a spreadsheet.

But if your workload includes gaming, 3D rendering, or managing massive media libraries, this machine will frustrate you quickly. The 512GB storage and lackluster GPU are real bottlenecks that can’t be fixed down the road. In that case, we’d nudge you toward a Mac mini with a user-upgradable external SSD or a Windows all-in-one with a discrete GPU. For everyone else who just wants a brilliant desktop that works, the iMac M4 is still the gold standard.